Lithuania: The forecast for the Lithuanian barley crop 2004 is optimistic. Compared to the 2003 crop the total acreage, the total barley crop and the share of malting barley is expected to increase, Viking Malt revealed in a press release.

Over 100,000 tonnes of malting barley is needed to satisfy the total need of the malting industry in Lithuania. With the forecast in mind and looking back on previous years it seems that there will be enough domestic raw material to cover the demand in Lithuania if the summer is fairly good. If not, and Lithuania will be faced with a shortage of malting barley, there still is a possibility to import some of the needed quantity from other European countries to cover parts of the total demand.

The normal sowing period in Lithuania is between the middle of April and the middle of May. We expect a slight change in varieties comparing the 2003 and 2004 crops. Barke is still the main variety on the Lithuanian fields with an estimated share of 60% representing 60 000 ton, followed by Scarlett (10%/10 000 tons) and the newcomer Prestige (10%/10 000 tons). Alexis and Pasadena on the other hand have lost their share as dominant varieties when they dropped 10% and 5% respectively from crop 2003 till crop 2004.

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